2-040 - Cultural Influences on Children’s Socialization through Reminiscing

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Research has established caregiver-child reminiscing conversation as a means through which children are socialized to remember, discuss, emote, build identity, and behave in culturally mediated ways (Nelson & Fivush, 2004; Wang, 2016). However, the majority of work on reminiscing socialization has focused on variations occurring within Caucasian families in the US. The practices of other ethnic groups, such as Hispanic/LatinX and African Americans, have been largely overlooked despite documented cultural variation that likely affects reminiscing practices. This symposium brings together an international team of researchers, representing six institutions, who have been investigating broader cultural influences on caregiver reminiscing socialization and downstream effects on children’s development.

Paper 1 illustrates that caregiver reminiscing goals and practices vary by culture (African American, Asian American, Caucasian, Hispanic) and by collectivist ideology, and that caregivers have different goals for reminiscing about positive and negative events.

Paper 2 demonstrates that the same maternal reminiscing practices can have different effects on children’s behavioral symptoms and socially adaptive skills across cultures, both concurrently and longitudinally.

Paper 3 presents preliminary longitudinal results showing that the links between family income during a child’s infancy and maternal reminiscing style at age four are dependent on culture. As such, the authors highlight the importance of considering family income and ethnicity simultaneously.

Together, this symposium will present evidence that it is critical to consider caregiver-child reminiscing in cultural context.

A leading expert will discuss the findings in light of decades of field-shaping theoretical and empirical work on culturally-mediated reminiscing.

Sub Unit

• Language, Communication

Chair

• J. Zoe Klemfuss, UC Irvine

Discussant

• Robyn Fivush, Emory University

Individual Presentations

• Cultural, Ideological, and Valence-based Differences in Caregiver Reminiscing Goals - Non-Presenting Author: J. Zoe Klemfuss, UC Irvine; Presenting Author: Emily Slonecker, UC Irvine; Non-Presenting Author: Kimia Akhavein, UC Irvine; Non-Presenting Author: Deepali Dhruve, UC Irvine

• Relations of Mother-Child Internal State Talk to Children’s Socio-Emotional Functioning: The Moderating Role of Culture - Presenting Author: Jessie Bee Kim Koh, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen; Non-Presenting Author: Qi Wang, Cornell University

• Maternal reminiscing style in relation to family income and ethnicity - Presenting Author: Widaad Zaman, University of Central Florida; Non-Presenting Author: Robyn Fivush, Emory University; Non-Presenting Author: Deborah June Laible, Lehigh University; Non-Presenting Author: Erin Karahuta, Lehigh University